Collecting Peace: Miracles & Margin

Next, Noah sent out a dove. At first it was unable to find a place to land, but then it returned holding a sprig from an olive tree-an image that later became a widespread symbol for peace. After a time of judgement and destruction, now God was promising a time of peace and redemption.

— Francine Rivers, Earth Psalms

"Spring is the busiest season."; A line from a poem in the children's book given to me by a former fourth grade student of mine. "Plants and animals are waking up after their winter rest, and there's so much to do." Lately, many are referring to spring as the new fall. Calendars fill and events spill over into margin moments originally made for breaking from the busy to breath and exhale slowly with sighs and sunset skies. Sipping tea, listening, reading scripture, praying, watching, just being. Enjoying the cherry blossom for a handful of fleeting days, letting your heart rejoice in new beginnings or new possibilities.

Can you imagine Noah on his ark receiving the joy of the olive branch, then shifting to all that must be done. With everything destroyed by the flood, Noah had a big job of rebuilding.

Your heart becomes alive with visions for a new season in life- maybe God has brought you through a flood or a drought, and you recently received your own form of an Olive branch. You hold on to the branch as a reminder that God can perform miracles.

The last page in my gray suede journal with a terra-cotta colored leather strap that wrapped around it was filled up with words and written prayers yesterday. Sometimes I mark the seasons of my life not with a calendar but with the completion of a journal. A journal that is filled with memories, honest emotions, favorite quotes and timely scriptures. So here I am a few days before Easter about to begin a new journal, in a new home. The grey journal makes me think of the when all our walls were just grey drywall and dust overwhelmed the house. We labored through the remodel, the restoring, the making something old new. For me journaling is a way of filling up of spending time with God. It often is a part of my scripture reading time; before, during, after. I will write out a scripture that spoke to me.

This journal time requires me to be alone, and when things get busy there is pressure to neglect this time. Sometimes others won't understand the need for margin and for alone time, but I am thankful Jesus understands this and models this for us.

"It's a pattern we find with Jesus. He pours out and pours out, but he also pours in and pours in. There were many times he'd take the fatigued discipled to a grove of olive trees and leave them at a distance while he communed with God." -Come With Me by Suzanne Eller

As I remember the miracles God has done in the last season of my life, as I remember the Olive branch, as I remember his resurrection power this weekend, I also remember that I can take time to slow down even in busy seasons. I find peace moving forward remembering the Olive grove too; where Jesus took time to pray.

They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” 

— Mark 14:32

Collecting Peace; 10 part series complete

I hope with my words and in this series collecting peace you have found a gentle place on the internet to gather strength. I have shared 10 different blog posts with this theme- some posts more practical and some more spiritual. Here are links to each post, and thanks for joining me on my blog!

This is the 7th installment in a series about collecting peace. I started this series at the beginning of the new year and will finish it up around Easter. As I stop to notice & record the ways I experience peace I hope you will find gentleness and encouragement through my writing.